Hospitals, medical clinics and the like generate waste materials which require special processing prior to disposal of the material. Used bandages, hypodermic needles, specimen containers and tissues, for example, may be contaminated with infectious viruses or bacteria. Wastes of this kind must be stored in closed containers and be rendered harmless prior to disposal at a garbage dump or the like.
Processing of such wastes by incineration is subject to a number of problems. Much of the waste may have a high moisture content and be composed of materials which are not readily combustible. Consequently, fuel requirements are high and the incinerators are costly to operate. Equipment costs and operating costs are further aggravated by the need to suppress release of pollutants into the surrounding environment.
Prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,491 and 5,084,250 disclose a more economical alternative type of infectious waste processor. The apparatus of these prior patents sterilizes the waste by exposure of the wastes to high pressure steam. Fuel costs are relatively low and prevention of pollutant release can be more easily accomplished.
The waste processors described in the above identified prior patents also function as a temporary storage for non-hazardous wastes and include mechanism for compacting the wastes prior to transport of the material to a dump site. These additional functions make the apparatus particularly suitable for use at hospitals or the like which generate large amounts of infectious wastes.
The compaction mechanism significantly increases the bulk and cost of the apparatus both directly and indirectly as structural complications are needed to enable transfer of wastes from the sterilizer to the compactor. Small medical clinics which produce relatively small amounts of waste may not need the benefits of these complications and may find the cost of the apparatus to be a difficult financial burden. Thus there is a need for a simplified and more compact waste sterilizer.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.